Steve MccClure
Its not over..
picture - Micheal Madera. Project 1 above Rainshadow!!
New lines in England are hard to find. There are last great problems here and there, but not in abundance, not like 20 years ago. In the sport world I’ve been lucky, really lucky. And I feel incredibly privileged to have had a run at some of the very best and hardest projects in the country. Many of these were prepared by others, laid on a plate for me, and even made famous before I knew what a quickdraw was! Northern Lights, Rainshadow, Overshadow, North Star and others were all well tested ground. But most of the limestone is looking a bit chocka now, and the Peaks has given up all its best.
Yorkshire is where it’s gonna be at. Plenty of people have spotted the gaps but most of them remain. I went for a peak last week, mainly for a breath of fresh air, but this was also a last chance of the year to place any bolts, with the ban starting at the same time as the bird ban in just a few days. So just in case I slogged up with 150m or rope, 2 bosch drills, a bag of bolts and a whole pile of junk than might be useful.
I came away with 2 gaps ready to go, one short and extending an existing 8b, a boulder problem above the belay when you’re gonna be pumped. The other is big, big enough to rival any other route there in scale and grade. Maybe I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, I’ve already got something there I was trying last year that is at least 9a+. But what’s the rush? Just need to wait till it gets dry now….
February 21, 2011 10:12 PM
Page 1 of 1 pages
